Interviewer: Cinzia Nitti
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEE
Sfurti Sahare is an Indian born woman – she completed her degree in computer engineering from Pune University and turned her attention to motivational speaking to inspire the young and the old alike and make a difference in their lives. Powerful Thinker, Motivational and Keynote Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Sports Performance Coach whose debut book, “Think and Win like Dhoni” got immensely famous and make her won many Awards in India and on International Platforms. She does Leadership Training for the First-time Managers and the Middle-Managers in the Corporates. She is the Founder of a Company, the Ace Square Enterprise which deals with training in Schools, Colleges and Corporates. Sfurti delivers also high power Motivational Programs in various Conferences across India.
Rome, 26 May 2018. My first TEDx Event experience as an attendant.
Sfurti caught my attention since the very beginning through her opening slogan “I don’t need a glass of wine to get my high!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK0cxy88VJk join her TEDx Talk to know what I’m talking about.
I remember I thought “I’m sure this girl is going to rock the stage”. And so it was! I had no idea about her life path and professional profile before hearing her story. A couple of days after the conference I contacted her to say simply “thank you”. Her speech was so inspiring, the words so strongly empowering that I thought she would have been a good role model for future Women Leaders and the importance to build strong connections without fearing social dogmas and common masculine-oriented mindset.
THE INTERVIEW
HR Revolution Middle East: Hi Sfurti and thank you so much for accepting our interview. Here we are, a year after your first TEDx Talk in Rome and a new coming soon book, “The Monkey Theory“. Would you introduce yourself by giving our readers a summary of your career as Motivational Speaker and Inspiring Award-winning Female Author?
Sfurti Sahare: Hi guys, my name is Sfurti and it means “inspiration“. Initially, when my mom named me it was very difficult for most of the people to pronounce it correctly. At some point, I used to ask myself “Why I don’t have a common name?”. But one day, when I was at school, I had a tough day because of an exam. So I went back to the hostel, I was alone in my room while other guys were happy and wearing colorful dresses – I realized “Sfurti is your name, you are born to inspire people, so you should get all the strength you have and focus on one right thing: succeed and have a purpose in life!”. From that moment I started taking my name seriously and today I am a motivational speaker and author. I do 3 things: 1. I train people, go to schools, colleges, conferences to speak about motivation, productivity, leadership and gender issues as well. 2. I super active on LinkedIn, Instagram and I write books. 3. I manage my office, so I’m also an entrepreneur. I think if you keep a good focus, work hard and believe you can do it, then you definitely will succeed.
HR Revolution Middle East: You are a first-generation entrepreneur from your family. You are also a motivational trainer, author, and owner of a training Company, the Ace Square Enterprise. How difficult it is for a young woman to convince the family members and take up entrepreneurship as a career?
Sfurti Sahare: I think it is way difficult because normally girls are believed that they can just do the housework after they get married. My mother was a working woman and it was pretty easy for me and my brother to be both supportive with housework. Then I moved to study in a bigger city and I already knew how to manage everything by myself. Generally speaking for Indian girls after marriage it is not easy to do anything else but manage housework, so I would definitely say it is more difficult than in other countries. I am strongly convinced that women should all work, be independent, make money by and for themselves because that gives them a sense of freedom not only on a personal level but also to people who care and support them. As I said, my mom used to work and I followed her step: I came out and started working as well. Her model gave me the chance to step forward and get into entrepreneurship. My message to everyone who is reading this article is: even if you are housewives and you think you are not enough qualified to work, try anyway to find and get a job because that is what makes you feel independent and free to build a better future.
HR Revolution Middle East: Despite “Millennial women” are changing women’s roles in the workplace (www.humanresourcesmba.net), there are still barriers to their professional advancement. What would you specifically suggest to Women in the HR world to improve their skills, get higher profile assignments and human value?
Sfurti Sahare: I truly believe that women are always considered a step below men. Same reason why today is very difficult to see women at higher positions in the business world. Sadly, this is not going to change through an interview but I strongly believe that real change could happen starting by the way we raise our boys. Teaching them equality between boys and girls is necessary for a new generation based on balance and equality from a gender perspective. In my house, my mother raised me and my brother exactly that way. He has to clean his room by himself, he has to take care of all his duties without expecting his sister was there ready to do the job for him! Everything was equal … and when this will happen on a large scale, things will truly start changing and in the end, we will finally see the change we are fighting for now. It is a matter of social norms. Another important trait to manage any kind of discrimination at work is that I want women to be emotionally stable in the workplace. I know it is not easy, women are known to have and feel emotions in a very intense way, but while working they can sound very irritating for others. If women want to believe in themselves I think they can go ahead, perform better and get whatever they want in professional places. Plus, we must consider that with increased distractions and hype around social media, the attention span of humans has gone done … and it is less than the attention span of gold-fish which is 8 seconds. Our mind acts like a monkey and keeps swinging from one idea to another. It leads to unnecessary stress, anxiety and confusion. That is why emotional stability is one of the key points: if women learn to manage their emotions, they can work properly and gain more credibility and human value – which helps them achieve better goals.
HR Revolution Middle East: We are often used to imagine and apply rigid schemes in hiring and training employees, whether they’re men or women. Do you think there are alternative and creative ways that can help companies motivate and develop Female Leaders? Would it be correct to start from the perspective that women are different?
Sfurti Sahare: Women are different and I think the most important starting point would make them always feel safe in their professional places. As I said before, raising boys and girls in an equal way would be undoubtedly a plus to motivate constructive competition and make the best out of them. My new coming soon book, “The Monkey Theory” (releasing on June, 26th) presents a creative approach to manage the mental chatter and help an individual achieve focus, discipline and mental space. For example, mental chatter is one of the most destructive things to handle and it makes the matter worst. I have tried showing how feelings control us and then I labeled them. Once you label them, it comes easy to identify and get over them.
HR Revolution Middle East: “Think and win like Dhoni” taught the readers the art of never giving up and build strong connections between cognitive abilities and emotional management under pressure. Have clear goals, focus on the process instead of getting obsessed by results, trust in the ability to reinvent the game after a tough defeat. What the coming soon “The Monkey Theory” is going to teach us (spoiler, please!)?
Sfurti Sahare: “The Monkey Theory” is basically this: you want to wake up in the morning and do workout, because you want to look young and great, right? Who stops you from going to the gym? Let’s imagine a monkey on our shoulder who suggests being lazy and complaining about our body shape instead of acting. Then, we want to control our anger? Sure! But there’s a voice in the head that keeps us focused on negativity? Well, the wild Monkey is dancing and tricking us. There are four families of Monkeys and once you learn to know and recognize them, you will quickly understand how to kick them away or keep them close to your positive daily routine. We are all good human being, the monkeys are there to paralyze our good thoughts. So we should all learn to deal with them and act positively.
HR Revolution Middle East: In a few creative sentences, what would “The Monkey Theory” suggest us to manage the multiple voices in our minds?
Sfurti Sahare: “The Monkey Theory” is a mind management tool presented very creatively through different types of monkeys that capture all our mental space. It’s about cognitive techniques that teach us how to handle the many voices inside our heads. All top achievers are laser focused. The reason I have put monkey characters is that I wanted the NON-readers to READ! The book will make sure that the person beat the negative monkeys and live peacefully with a positive one. When the monkeys will sit on our shoulder, we will exactly know how to balance all the thoughts and no trouble will threat us anymore.
THANK YOU
Links to Sfurti Sahare’s Books: